Mizuya - Sydney CBD

Agedashi Tofu - $5.8

I've been hearing a lot about Mizuya on Geroge Street ever since the beginning of the year with its izakaya dining hall, touch-screen menus and the karaoke rooms. Not another Japanese touch screen restaurant, were my first thoughts. I am not a big fan of it and prefer having my menu printed out in front of me (just like how I've not yet come to terms with reading a book using Kindle or iPad). However whenever I walk past the restaurant during my lunch breaks, the dark decor always piques my curiosity and tonight, I was keen to give it a try when a friend suggested it.

First up was the agedashi tofu. The batter was thin as I like it but very chewy as it must have a lot of corn flour.

Touch screen menu

Soft shell crab salad - $9.8

It is always good to have something healthy like a salad to offset the not-so-healthy deep fried soft shell crab, right? ;)

Cheese potato mochi - $5.8

I thought this was an interesting dish. It tastes like a cheesy mashed potato cake (I couldn't really taste the mochi) and was very filling.

Wagyu Beef sukiyaki (small) - $15.8

We ordered a suikyaki as well (which is like a hotpot with sweet soy broth - as opposed to the clear broth in shabu-shabu). We were told that it would be enough for two, but I could see myself easily finishing this myself if we didn't order anything else. The beef was lovely, however the broth was a bit on the salty side even after we put in the water to dilute it.

Additional vegetable for the hotpot - $7

Great Tea Shiratama Sundae $6

This is probably my favourite of the night. Green Tea ice-cream with lots of red bean paste and mochi balls, as well as your breakfast corn flakes at the bottom for that extra crunch.

I guess people don't come to Mizuya for authentic Japanese food, but rather the ambiance (it was actually very similar to the izayaka halls I've been to in Japan) and the alcohol accompanied by the large selection of side dishes like yakitori and kushiyaki.

Mizuya

14 George St

Sydney NSW 2000‎

Tel: (02) 9266 0866‎

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Japanese Cheesecake

There are cakes which look absolutely stunning and gorgeous on the outside, but when it comes to the taste, it disappoints, and you just wished that it tasted as good as it looks. I've had a lot of those experiences, and in fact, I think I've made a few of cakes like that myself!

What I love about a good Japanese cheesecake is that while in appearance it resembles a humble (and perhaps, plain or boring?) sponge cake, but the minute you put it into your mouth, you want to close your eyes and go 'hmmmmmmmmmmmmm'.

We all go through phases, don't we?! Well, about a month ago, I was in a cheesecake phase. And I made cheesecakes almost on a daily basis (I don't know where I got the energy from after work!). Following my previous cheesecake attempt, I have diligently scoured the internet for more versions to try. This version is a even lighter version as it calls for less eggs (good for the cholesterol conscious like myself!) and has a mousse-like texture as it is incredible light and fluffy!

Right out of the oven...hmmmmm.

Japanese Cheesecake

Recipe from The Cookbook Chronicles

• 300g cream cheese
• 45g unsalted butter
• 57g egg yolk (this equals to 3 yolks)
• 20g sugar
• 11g cornstarch
• 150g milk
• 95g egg white (3 egg whites)
• 55g sugar
• Use an 18 cm (7 in) cake pan with a fixed bottom

Cut a strip of parchment that is 3 cm higher than the height of the cake pan. Fold 1.5 cm along the long edge and cut a notch to the fold line every 2 cm to allow the strip to line the side of the cake pan. Slits should point into the center of the cake pan. You want the strip to be at least 1 cm taller than the cake pan. (Basically, the notches are just so you can build a perfectly round collar around the base of the pan.) Cut a parchment paper round to line the bottom of the cake pan.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the egg whites into the freezer so it just begins to freeze around the edges. Sift the cornstarch.

Wrap the cream cheese in clear wrap and microwave until it becomes soft to the touch. You do not want to heat it up. (I did this in about 15 second intervals.)

In a large bowl, melt the butter over a double boiler. Add the cream cheese and whisk well to combine.

In another bowl, combine the egg yolks and 20g of sugar. Mix in the cornstarch.

Mixing and yolks with the cream cheese

Heat the milk so it comes to a boil. Add it to the egg yolks and whisk until it thickens in a double boiler over boiling water. Add this mixture to the cream cheese and combine well.

Add a small amount of the 55g of sugar to the egg whites and mix on medium low speed for about 2 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar to the egg whites and beat on medium until a soft meringue forms.

Add ¼ of the meringue to the cream cheese mixture and combine. Add the remaining meringue to the cream cheese mixture and fold to combine. Fill the cake pan and smooth the top.

Pouring the mixture into the dish

All ready for the oven!

Put the cake pan in a roasting pan and add boiling water so it comes up 1-1.5 cm up the cake pan. Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 160°C and continue to bake for 25 minutes until the top turns slightly golden. Turn off the oven and leave the cake pan for another 40 minutes to an hour.

So beautifully plump!

Note: The cake will continue to bake with the heat off so do not over bake. Depending on the oven, the cake may not turn golden but should avoid cooking much longer than the suggested time.

Take the cake out of the roasting dish and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate and chill completely before taking it out of the pan. It is best served the second day

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Soban - Korean Restaurant

Vegetable Bibimbap with strawberries on top!

I find that as I get older, it gets harder and harder to make new friends. It seems to take such an effort at times unlike the primary school days when sharing your oreo cookies will earn you a new best friend - someone who you can trust and share all your secrets with!

Thank God for old friends! My friend Ms. R and I have been friends since primary school in NZ. We met in Saturday morning Mandarin classes and then went on to go to high school together. Then in Year 11, we both moved to Sydney and then finally enrolled in the same university where she studied Medicine and I Engineering.

We still meet up from time to time. One beautiful autumn morning, we set off for a hike from Taronga Zoo to Balmoral Beach. It was a hike that we've but put off for almost a year due to our busy schedules!

View from the walk. Lots of sails to welcome back Jessica Watson!

Famished after the hike, we found ourself in Chatswood for a late lunch. As Ms. R is a vegetarian, it wasn't too easy to find a place to eat. We finally settled for Soban, a Korean restaurant on the top level of Westfield next to Kam Fook. I've been here a number of times and love their salad selections.

Beef Bibimbap

I ordered the Beef Bibimbap. The beef was nice and tender and in large amounts as well. There was an interesting selection of side dishes - even a pumpkin soup. Not usual for Korean for sure!

Vegetable Bibimbap

Now, we were a bit disappointed with the vegetarian bibimbap. When it arrived, we noticed 3 of the 5 side dishes were not vegetarian (one had shrimp, fish cake and fish stock). The waiters came and took those side dishes away after we told them that they're not vegetarian, and didn't offer to replace those dishes with anything else (nor take anything off the final bill). Poor Ms. R was still hungry after her meal. I probably wouldn't be as willing to return again after this experience. But foodwise - it was decent and fresh Korean food with an interesting Italian twist.

Soban

1 Anderson St

Sydney NSW 2067‎

Tel: (02) 9415 2028‎

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Ripples -Milsons Point

I know, it' been a while since I last posted. I've been thinking about it and even dreamt about writing entries filled with delicious recipes and photos. In the busyness of day to day tasks, sometimes I just wish I have supernatural powers such as completing jobs just by thinking about them, or putting my hand on a book and having all its information transferred to my brain.

So I digress. I am meant to be talking about breakfasts in Sydney. There are so many places to have really good breakfasts especially around the Surry Hills, Pyrmont and Balmain areas. Since I don't live around any of these areas I visited Ripples at Milsons Point one fine Saturday morning. Ripples has its chains in several areas in Sydney like Walsh Bay and Chowder Bay.

The Milsons Point location is pretty amazing I tell you. It's right next to the Harbour Bridge (next to Luna Park) and while you have our breakfast, you can lazily gaze out at the beautiful harbour and the city skyline. Best of all, we also found out that there are free parkings in the nearby Kirribilli streets (e.g. Broughton Street).

Foodwise, they serve some hearty traditional breakfasts at reasonable prices (especially when you're getting views as good as that!) It's an ideal place to spend your weekend mornings.

I had the Ripples big breakfast while my friend N had the omelette as you can see from the photos. I wasn't too keen on the 'black pudding' in my breakfast but everything else especially the sirloin was delicious.

pino’s ham, smoked mozzarella & roast tomato omelette - $15

ripples big breakfast - $16

sirloin, black pudding, tomato, mushroom, fried eggs & sourdough

Olympic Dr

Milsons Point NSW 2061‎

Tel: (02) 9929 7722‎

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Zebra cheesecake

People often ask me whether I've taken my love for cooking from my mother. I wouldn't say so really. Often I think my mum could be a great cook but chooses not to. It's too bad she doesn't really like to spend all that time in the kitchen (or perhaps it's a good thing - otherwise I'd have been pretty big). Growing up though, I do remember her being pretty 'famous' amongst her group of friends for some of her specialties. And Japanese cheesecake is one of them. People could call and order cheesecakes from her and I recall her bringing taking those cotton soft cheesecakes out from the oven and her friends gasping with delight at the sight of them.

Well, I'm not quite sure where her recipe for the cheesecake is now. I should call and ask her about it soon.

But for now, I've found another version online. It tastes like my mum's. In fact, I showed my mum my version over Skype and she nods approvingly. So I'm sure it's not too bad ;)

I don't have any photos of the making of this cake because I was in a rush (and impatient to eat!). I got zebra-inspired with this cheesecake by another Aussie blogger - it's so prettyyy!

The verdict?

This cake tastes as good as it looks. Or better. It has a soft delicate flavour that is so addictive!

Zebra Cheesecake

Recipe from NotQuiteNigella

Preparation time: 30-40 minutes
Baking time: 1 hour
Serves 12

Ingredients:

• 50g/2 ozs butter
• 250g/9 ozs cream cheese
• 100 ml/3 fl ozs milk
• 60g/2 ozs plain flour
• 20g/1 oz cornflour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 150g/5 ozs fine granulated sugar
• 6 eggs separated
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons Dutch process Cocoa

Instructions:

1. Prepare cake tin. Lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of a round 12 inch springform tin with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper). Wrap two layers of foil around the tin to prevent water seeping in. Find a large baking dish that will fit the springform tin. Fill the empty baking dish 1/4 of the way full with water and place the baking dish with water (don’t put the lined springform tin in just yet) in the centre rack of an oven and switch it on to 160C/325F.

2. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler-use whisk to get out any lumps. Cool the mixture over an ice bath. Fold in the flour, the cornflour, 6 egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well. Whisk 6 egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Add one third of the egg white mixture to the cheese mixture to loosen. Then add the rest in third batches and mix well and ensure that the egg whites are thoroughly combined gently by folding-there should be no streaks at all. Divide the batter evenly in two and in one bowl, sift the cocoa in it and combine well using a folding action.

4. This is the fun bit. Take your lined springform tin and place tablespoons of cream coloured batter in a circle in the centre of the tin (see picture). Then take 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter and place in the centre. Keep adding circles and the batter will spread of its own accord. Don’t tilt the tin, it will just spread by itself. Keep adding 3 tablespoon circles of batter until both of the batters are used. If you don’t divide them evenly like I did and I had too much cream batter left over, I just stopped adding it and baked the leftover separately as I didn’t want to ruin the zebra effect.

5. Carefully transfer the cheesecake into the water bath in the oven making sure not to tilt the cheesecake. Bake cheesecake in the water bath for 1 hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and the top is golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F). Chill thoroughly.

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Yama - QVB

Where do you go into the Sydney city to find that quiet spot away from the noise, traffic and people? I'm sure you will not be able to name many, especially at locations around Pitt St. mall.

E first introduced me to Yama at Level 3 of Queen Victoria Building a few months ago. Since then, I've been going there to have light lunches or tea and ice-cream regularly. I love how quiet and undisturbed it is there compared to other cafes around the area and it really is a lovely place to chat and catch up with people (although you do pay a little bit more for the prime location).

Food-wise, it's decent. My friend A tried their green-tea seafood pancake and seems pleased with it whilst I tried their garden salad. What I enjoy more is their large selection of Japanese teas and ice-creams...

Green-tea seafood pancake

Garden Salad

Yama
455 George St,
Sydney NSW 2000‎
Tel: (02) 9269 0080‎

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I heart SALADS

I'm no expert on salad and did you know that I didn't try my first one until I was around 8 years old as I didn't grow up in the 'western world' where salads are as common as bread.

Today, salads still aren't really part of my regular diet and my vegetable intake usually comes in steamed or baked forms ;) My 'problem' is that I prefer eating warm or hot food.

These days I only do make them when the ingredients are in their freshest state (e.g. no days off greens from the fridge and fruits are plump) and I have either fresh cheese or nuts (such as pine nuts or walnuts) available. Also, nothing beats homemade dressings! Then the challenge is trying to figure out what goes with what...

I think that if you have everything in your salad the ingredients that you love (eating raw), then it's a winner. Otherwise what I do is that I will start picking on it and end up with a plate full of raw onions or rockets.

Some pictures of salads I made in the past...no recipe with this post as they're pretty self explanatory. ;)

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